Dr Kate Hersov - Medikidz

06/05/2010

By Kate Lockyer

Kerpow! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No - it's Dr Kate Hersov! Nothing so far has stopped this entrepreneur in her tracks as she flies toward the stratosphere, driven by her need to help sick children understand their medical conditions with her innovative super hero comic books.

Hersov had never run a business when she hit upon the unique idea, but her lack of experience has not held her back. Financial support came from investors that swept this potential drawback aside and she has not let them down.

"Initial funding came from individuals in Europe and a...

...handful in America," says Hersov. "These angel investors saw Medikidz from an angle of doing something good as well as a potentially successful business, maybe because the idea had soul."

Hersov was working as a paediatric doctor in her home country New Zealand when she and business partner Dr Kim Chilman-Blair struck the million pound idea. They were totally frustrated by the lack of medical information for kids.

"For the parents there were books, brochures and online communities that we could direct them to," says Hersov. "For the kids there was nothing."

Medikidz has become the place where sick children go to have their medical condition explained to them in their own language. The Medikidz brand was incorporated in Britain in June 2008 as a website for young people aged 10 to 15. Since September 2009, the official launch of the brand, they have published 16 comic book titles such as Medikidz Explain Diabetes and Medikidz Explain HIV and sold over 500,000 of them around the world. Not bad for a business which is effectively just a few months old. And Hersov has plans to publish 300 altogether.

Although the books are on serious subjects it... continued on page two >

 

 

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